Chaplain’s Corner –
September 21, 2011
Rev.
Rich Hines
Jesus Our Example
This message is
primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and
Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel minister in a jail, prison
or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the
All Scripture
quotes are usually taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible,
copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any
deviation from the NKJV text is placed within bracket signs [ ].
These usually occur as direct translations from the original languages, or as notes from the original setting to help
apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS
are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment about a
biblical text, or emphasize a statement.
This month I want to
address the subject of Jesus as our example for how we are to live and minister
in this world. With the strength and
wisdom His Spirit supplies, YOU need to EMULATE HIM. You as Chaplain,
need to be a copy of the way He felt about people and the way He dealt with
them.
At the head or top of
the list, is how Jesus loved people.
God’s love for people seeks their best and sacrifices to give it to
them. It is a love that stoops to reach
the lowest and basest part of us. It is
a love that SERVES. Consider the lesson
on this, which Jesus taught in John 13.
In turn, teach it to Christian inmates
John 13:12-17
12 So when He had
washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do
you know what I have done to you?
13 You call Me
Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.
14 If I then, your
Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, YOU ALSO OUGHT to wash one another’s
feet.
15 For I have given
you an EXAMPLE, [lit. something to be copied, like a prototype] that YOU SHOULD
DO [lit. 'just as, to the same degree] as I have done to you.
16 Most assuredly, I
say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent
greater than he who sent him.
17 If you know these
things, blessed are you if you do them.
This scene, and
teaching in John 13 is bookend-ed with statements
about Christ’s love for His followers.
Verse 1 of the same chapter says:
1 Now before the
Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour [His time] had come that
He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were
in the world, HE LOVED THEM TO THE END.
“To the end” means to
the furthest extent of love.
And verses 34-35 in
the same chapter, say:
34 A new commandment
I give to you [to you all – it’s a plural ‘you’], that you love one another; AS
I HAVE LOVED YOU, that you also love one another.
35 By this all will
know that you are My disciples, if you have love for
one another.
AS I said, this scene
in John 13 is bookend-ed with statements about
Christ’s love. Therefore, the servant
role in stooping to wash His disciples feet was an act
of love. You and I, and all true Christians
are called by Jesus Christ to follow His example of humbly serving one another
with His kind of love.
Here in John 13:15,
He said to believers "I have given you an EXAMPLE, that YOU SHOULD DO
[just as, to the same degree] as, I have done to you."
In biblical
Christianity lived out, there is no “I’m better than you” or “You’re beneath
me.” By contrast, in human religion
which cannot produce salvation, or being in the flesh, there is pride and
competition. Although they thought they
were the high standard of spiritual perfection, the unsaved Jewish religious
leaders were really very worldly. They
loved money, and they were always trying to be above everybody else. Note it in Luke 16:14-15, and then in Matthew
23.
14
Now the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, also heard all these things, and
they derided Him.
15
And He [Jesus] said to them,
”You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows
your hearts. For what is highly esteemed
among men [like seeking positions of higher rank for the sating of pride] is an
abomination in the sight of God.”
And
in Matthew 23:1-2, 5-8,
1
Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples,
2
saying: “The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat
....
5
But all their works they do to be seen by men. They make their phylacteries
broad and enlarge the borders of their garments.
6
They love the BEST PLACES at feasts, the BEST SEATS in the synagogues,
7 greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called by
men, ‘Rabbi, Rabbi.’
8
But you [true disciples], do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher,
the Christ, and you are all brethren.
Now
Jesus WAS GREATER than His followers, BUT HE STOOPED TO SERVE THEM. In ancient societies, washing dirty feet was
normally the task of the lowest slave or hired servant in the household.
That’s
what Jesus’ kind of love does. It
considers the needs of others above self.
Later, Jesus taught His disciples another form of the same lesson. In Matt 20:25-28, we read,
25
But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of
the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over
them.
26
Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among
you, let him BE YOUR SERVANT.
27
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him BE
YOUR SLAVE
28
JUST AS the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His
life a ransom for many.”
You
need to treat people the way Jesus did, starting with your fellow
believers. You need to teach this to
inmate believers as well. It is very
important.
Jesus
said this love and care among believers is a testimony to a watching unsaved
public of the presence of Christ in a life, see John 13:34-35 again. But, it doesn’t end with fellow believers. Jesus dealt lovingly with unbelievers also.
Note
for instance, what God’s word says about how He treated and felt about the
rich, young ruler, who went away from Him STILL UNSAVED. “Then Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and
said to him, “One thing you lack …” Mark 10:21.
I
can think of five other subjects that do not use the word “example” - but show
us how Jesus lived and give us an example of how we should live. Backed up by other Scriptiure
passages they are:
1. Praying – Luke 6:12 and
Luke 11:1
12
Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and
continued all night in prayer to God.
1
Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that
one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught
his disciples.”
Let
Jesus be the example in praying that you follow!
2. Dealing with temptation –
He quoted Scripture – Matthew
4:1-11
4
But He answered and said, “IT IS WRITTEN,
‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the
mouth of God.’”
...
7
Jesus said to him, “IT IS WRITTEN AGAIN,
‘You shall not tempt the LORD your God.’”
;;;
10
Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan!
FOR IT IS WRITTEN, ‘You
shall worship the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.’”
Memorizing
Scripture seems to have waned among Christians lately, but as you do put God’s
word into your memory banks, the Holy Spirit will cause you to remember it at
times of temptation. This is also an
important thing to teach inmates to do.
3. Being available to people – Mark 5:21-28
21
Now when Jesus had crossed over again by boat to the other side, a great
multitude gathered to Him; and He was by the sea.
22
And behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue came, Jairus
by name. And when he saw Him, he fell at
His feet.
23
and begged Him earnestly, saying, “My little daughter lies at the point of
death. Come and lay Your hands on her, that she may be
healed, and she will live.”
24 So Jesus went with him, and a great multitude followed Him and thronged Him.
25
Now [while He was on the way to Jairus’ home] a
certain woman had a flow of blood for twelve years,
26
and had suffered many things from many physicians. She had spent all that she
had and was no better, but rather grew worse.
27
When she heard about Jesus, she came behind Him in the crowd and touched
His garment.
28
For she said, “If only I may touch His clothes, I shall be made well.”
Jesus
set the example in not being aggravated by people and their interruptions. He was available to them, again because of
the love He had for them. In chaplaincy
ministry, you need to copy His loving availability.
4. Capturing a moment or an incident, and teaching God’s truth from it – Mk. 2:1-5
1
And again He entered
2
Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room
to receive them, not even near the door.
And He preached the word to them.
Jesus
was teaching and proclaiming God’s word.
In the middle of His message, there came an interruption:
3
Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4
And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the
roof where He was. So when they had
broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5
When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are
forgiven you.”
Jesus
wasn’t ruffled by situations that arose.
He used them to teach the truth about God! You also, must mimic that!
5. Loving the unlovely - many instances could be cited, but for me the
greatest one was when Jesus was crucified.
He even prayed for His tormentors.
This is the record of Christ’s reaction to His torturers, as He was
crucified. It is an example of the
character of His love, which believers are to mimic.
Note
it in Luke 23:32-36,
32
There were also two others, criminals, led with Him to be put to death.
33
And when they had come to the place called
34
Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them,
for they do not know what they do. And THEY [the
soldiers who crucified Him] divided His garments and cast lots.
35
And the people stood looking on. But
even the rulers with them sneered, saying, “He saved others; let Him save
Himself if He is the Christ, the chosen of God.”
36
The soldiers also mocked Him, coming and offering Him sour wine,
37
and saying, “If You are the King of the Jews, save
Yourself.”
That
incident which demonstrated Jesus’ incredible love connects with another passage
where a slightly different word for “EXAMPLE” is used in connection with the
call to mimic Jesus.
Look
at it in 1 Peter 2:19-23.
19
For this is commendable, if because of
conscience toward God one endures grief, suffering wrongfully. [No one ever
suffered MORE WRONGFULLY than Jesus did]
20
For what credit is it if, when you are beaten for your faults, you take
it patiently? But when you do good and suffer, if you take it patiently, this is
commendable before God.
21
For to this you were called, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example [lit. “a
tracing,” - like when an accurate copy is desired and you trace on thin
transparent paper the original beneath it] , that you should follow His steps:
22
“ Who committed no sin, Nor was
deceit found in His mouth”;
23
who, when He was reviled, did not revile
in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself
to Him who judges righteously.
That
is a heavy teaching. When you are
unjustly dealt with, follow Jesus’ your example. Be a tracing of Him in NOT REACTING AGAINST
YOUR PERSECUTORS with human anger and threats.
It
takes the power of His Spirit within a truly saved person to enable you to
follow His examples. And that’s the
point. To the same degree that you do
it, you have the assurance that He is in you.
The same is true for inmate believers.
Rich
Hines,
Minister
to Chaplains - Chaplain Help Ministry